Kerala police finds ‘Raghav Rajan`s’ certificates forged

Bhubaneswar/Cuttack: The Kerala Police on Friday found that certificates from Class X to B Tech of Raghav Rajan, alleged to be rape convict Bitihotra Mohanty, from three Odisha educational institutions were forged.

"The B Tech degree certificate in the name of Raghav Rajan is forged. The certificate with the same number was issued in the name of Bitti Mohanty," said Josi Joesph, an inspector rank officer heading the four-member SIT of the Kerala police probing the antecedents of Raghav Rajan who was arrested from Kannur on March 8.

The team found that Raghav Rajan had never enrolled in KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, but that Bitihotra Mohanty had received his B Tech in computer science from there in 2004.

The team also verified certificates from the Stewart School and Christ College in Cuttack.

"We did not have any student by the name of Raghav Rajan. The index number and other details in Raghav Rajan`s certificates were actually issued to Bitihotra Mohanty," said Stewart School Principal Asha Das, who gave the records of 1999 to the Kerala Police.

Similarly, the Kerala Police also found that the certificates obtained from Christ College in name of Raghav Rajan were also forged.

"They were actually issued in the name of Bitihotra," the SIT members said.

The police have claimed that Raghav Rajan was former
Odisha DGP BB Mohanty`s son who jumped parole from Alwar jail in Rajasthan in December 2006, but the accused denied this, claiming that he was from Andhra Pradesh.

The Kerala police will meet former DGP BB Mohanty tomorrow.

A member of the team said they would visit Cuttack again tomorrow to hold discussion with some senior police officers.

Bitihotra was convicted for the rape of a German woman and sentenced to seven years imprisonment in Rajasthan.

He was released on parole in December 2006 but he jumped bail and remained untraced.

After jumping parole, Bitihotra reportedly stayed at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh and obtained an MBA degree in the name of Raghav Rajan and subsequently found employment as a probationary officer in the State Bank of Travancore`s Kannur branch in Kerala.